


Songbird

by cecilantro



Series: 100 Days Of Ficlets [41]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 09:36:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14258139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cecilantro/pseuds/cecilantro
Summary: Caleb discovers Molly can sing, and gets himself a private show.





	Songbird

Caleb doesn’t sleep for a while in the cellar, he hears Nott by the skeleton, her breathing hitches and slips into a new rhythm, one of calm, Caleb has laid beside her at night long enough to know the pattern of sleep for her. It’s still quick, but not as quick as waking, and far faster than when she’s angry. That terrifies him, in a way, about Nott- when she’s mad, the way her breathing slows right down, a pattern similar to the one he uses when he panics. Several seconds in, several seconds out, three seconds pause in between.   
He hears the sound of the door and sits up, quickly, lighting his hands up with muttered incantations, but the alarm doesn’t go off. And that means it can be only Jester or Mollymauk, he’d kept even Fjord and Beau from his protections after the night’s events, can only dream about how angry they are at him, if Nott’s messages are anything to go by. 

He instead whispers the incantation for Dancing Lights and casts out one, only one, covers it quickly with a rag from his pocket to hood it.    
Molly appears around the side of the door.   
“Caleb?” He asks, quietly, and Caleb stands, draws the light with him as he moves a little closer to the door.   
“Mollymauk, what, what are you doing here? It is three in the morning.”   
“You weren’t asleep.” Molly answers, pointedly, slips in and closes the door quietly behind him. Caleb sighs, a little, turns to lead Molly back to his spot on the floor. It’s still warm from where he’d laid, his bedroll is sprawled and messy, he sits at the top and pats the bottom.   
Molly joins him, quietly, sits beside him and crosses his legs so that his knee just brushes against Caleb’s.   
“I was worried.” Molly admits, eventually, through silence that isn’t exactly uncomfortable. Caleb smiles, a little,   
“About what? That Nott and I would abscond in the middle of the night with a deadly egg?”   
Molly actually  _ frowns _ as he turns to Caleb, his mouth draws tight,   
“No.” He says, flatly, “About you, actually,  _ sleeping _ through the night with a deadly egg.”   
His hand ghosts out, up to Caleb’s arm and sets there, a heavy warmth.   
“Oh.” Caleb says, small, he doesn’t look at Molly, doesn’t meet his eyes.    
“You were terrified,” Molly says gently, the hand on Caleb’s arm tightens a little, “In the sewers. Normally, I’d call you an idiot for volunteering, the others might say you were just pretending, but… no.”   
Molly shifts, a little closer, “I think you’re protecting us.”   
“I’m trying.” Caleb’s voice is no louder, his eyes are drawn to Molly’s hands, to the glimmer of rings, the back-and-forth sweep of his thumb, Molly smiles and pulls at his arm until Caleb unfolds and opens up just enough for Molly to lean in. He wraps his free arm around Caleb’s waist in an awkward kind of hug, his chin bumping his collarbone before slotting over his shoulder. Caleb, slowly, reciprocates. One arm up and around Molly’s shoulders, and to the other side, Molly still has his grip on Caleb’s forearm.   
“I don’t think I could sleep.” Caleb says quietly, close to Molly’s ear, an unseen grimace.   
“I’ll stick around for a while.” Molly draws away and they shuffle back to their earlier places, quiet and still, again, until Caleb leans gently against Molly, rests his head on his shoulder.   
“You know, Mollymauk, tonight-”   
“A disaster.” Molly chips in,   
“Yes, that, definitely, but also- we could hear a lot from inside.” Molly can hear the smirk in Caleb’s tone, “Quite a voice you have to you.”   
Molly flushes a little, is grateful that Caleb can’t see his face.   
“It came in quite handy running advertisement for the carnival.” He fights to keep his voice level, and almost succeeds. Anyone other than Caleb may have missed the note of strain. Anyone  _ other _ than.   
Caleb sits up to look, Molly sees his expression twist to something between pity and amusement as he spots the red-violet flush across Molly’s cheeks and creeping slowly downwards.   
“Something your pride doesn’t cover?” there’s a teasing lilt to Caleb’s voice.   
“Something rarely complimented.” Molly corrects him. Caleb’s smirk fades quickly,   
“It isn’t?”   
Molly shrugs, casual, there’s something behind it,   
“It’s not something others often get to hear, Caleb, you should count yourself lucky.” He hairpin turns from forlorn to confidence, his usual gait, Caleb rolls his eyes a little.   
“I did- I did not get to hear  _ much _ , between being thrown unconscious and arguing with Jester, but, but yes, I do. Perhaps,” He sets a hand to Molly’s knee, warmly, “You would consider a repeat performance.”   
Molly looks at him, shocked,   
“Really? You- you actually like my voice?” It’s the first time that Caleb has heard him stutter or stumble, and he blinks in disbelief. Both for Molly’s sudden lack of confidence, and for the idea that  _ anyone _ could think that Molly was anything other than perfect, in every way. He stares, and Molly is still shocked, waiting for an answer, Caleb feels the familiar affectionate pull for him.   
“I do.” He says, a few seconds of silence that feel like forever stretched before it. Molly looks from Caleb to Nott and, silently, he stands, offers Caleb his hand.

Caleb takes it, lets Molly pull him up and lead him out and away, just a short distance down the back alley, close enough that they can see and use the excuse that Caleb needed to piss, if Nott should wake. Far enough to avoid waking her with noise, Molly leans one shoulder to a wall and closes his eyes against Caleb’s rapt expression as he sings.   
Caleb swears then and forever that Molly’s voice makes him vibrate like crystal glass just before it shatters, his breath is shallow and excited, if he exhales too hard he’s sure he’ll ruin the moment, sure Molly will stop and leave, and he couldn’t cope with that- he wants these few minutes to stretch  _ forever _ . He knows he’ll make an effort to lock it in his mind, but memories are never as good as the time, only ever as painful and bad and now, in the moment, there is no hurt. Like a Healing Word, Molly’s voice seems to smooth over the burns and bruises and wounds of the past few days, it makes everything alright again.   
Molly’s eyes flicker open and his voice stutters, momentarily, as he meets Caleb’s adoring gaze. There’s no mistaking him, there’s hardly any blue left, just a slim glint around his pupils they’re blown so wide with the night and the excitement and the affection.   
When Molly stops singing, Caleb moves, no decision of his own and he  _ kisses _ . And Molly’s arms are around his neck and Caleb’s are around Molly’s waist and they’re kissing, they’re  _ kissing _ , the world is hazy and dreamlike and when Molly whispers that he should get back to his room- and then scales the  _ fucking wall _ , no less- Caleb watches him go, his fingers drawn up and across Molly’s back, in contact as long as possible, like Molly’s skin is magnetic and Caleb is made of metal.   
He wanders back to the cellar quietly, he swears he can still hear the echoes of Molly’s singing in his ears, can still smell Molly’s familiar scent of lavender and blood and soot, he curls up in his bedroll with his imagination singing him a lullaby in Molly’s voice and falls away to sleep in the comfortable dreams of the weird, deadly egg.

**Author's Note:**

> Formal thanks to Taliesin for saving my life both like, emotionally with molly "drunkenly" singing, and also literally since ive felt _so fucking bad_ lately that "would taliesin approve" is the only thing keeping me going lmao


End file.
